Mutābiʿ and Shāhid

The learner can recognize Hadith as a report of the Prophet's ﷺ saying, action, tacit approval, or state. Read the bilingual lesson for Mutābiʿ and Shāhid and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. What will we learn?

In fard nisbī (فرد نسبی), transmission is not limited to one narrator at the start, but is limited to one in a later generation. Sometimes another agreeing report provides taʾyīd (تائید): support for that report. We will distinguish two kinds of supporting report: mutābiʿ (متابع) and shāhid (شاہد). We will look at whether both reports come from the same Companion or different Companions.

2. Two reports from the same Companion

The Companion1 ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar transmitted the Prophet's ﷺ words about sighting the moon. Here are short excerpts from two reports: فَإِنْ غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ ثَلاَثِينَ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 1907) Meaning: If the moon is obscured, complete thirty days. فَإِنْ غُمَّ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاقْدِرُوا ثَلاَثِينَ (Sahih Muslim: 1080c) Meaning: If the moon is obscured, count thirty days. Some words differ, but the point here agrees: complete thirty days. Both reports also come from the same Companion, Ibn ʿUmar. 1. Companion (صحابی): someone who met the Prophet ﷺ as a believer and died upon faith.

3. What is a mutābiʿ?

A mutābiʿ (متابع) is a supporting report in which: • Both wording and meaning agree, or the meaning alone agrees. • Both reports come from the same Companion. The previous two reports from Ibn ʿUmar meet these conditions: their meaning agrees and the Companion is the same. The second report is therefore a mutābiʿ for the first.

4. An agreeing report from another Companion

Abu Hurayrah also transmitted the Prophet's ﷺ words about sighting the moon. A short excerpt reads: فَإِنْ غُبِّيَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا عِدَّةَ شَعْبَانَ ثَلاَثِينَ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 1909) Meaning: If the moon is obscured, complete thirty days of Shaʿbān1. Ibn ʿUmar's report also spoke of completing thirty days. Here, the meaning agrees, but the Companion is different: Abu Hurayrah. 1. Shaʿbān (شعبان): the Islamic month immediately before Ramadan.

5. What is a shāhid?

A shāhid (شاہد) is a supporting report in which: • Both wording and meaning agree, or the meaning alone agrees. • The two reports come from different Companions. Abu Hurayrah's report is a shāhid for Ibn ʿUmar's report: the meaning agrees, but the Companions differ.

6. Different words are not enough

A supporting report does not become a shāhid merely because its words differ. • If the Companion is the same and the meaning agrees, it can be a mutābiʿ even when the wording differs. • With different Companions, a shāhid still requires agreement in meaning. Two unrelated statements from different Companions are not supporting reports for each other merely because the Companions differ.

7. Lesson summary

• Taʾyīd (تائید): support from another agreeing report. Such support is sometimes found for a fard nisbī report. • Mutābiʿ (متابع): the meaning agrees and the Companion is the same. • Shāhid (شاہد): the meaning agrees and the Companions differ. For either kind, wording may agree too, but agreement in meaning alone can also occur. To distinguish them, consider both the meaning and the Companion.

Practice questions

Question 1

Two reports from Ibn ʿUmar have some different words but agree in meaning. What is the supporting report called?

  • Shāhid
  • Mutābiʿ
  • Not a supporting report

Question 2

If two reports come from different Companions, one is a shāhid for the other even when their meanings are unrelated.

  • True
  • False

Question 3

Match each term to its meaning.

Question 4

Why is Abu Hurayrah's report a shāhid for Ibn ʿUmar's report?

  • The meaning agrees, but the Companions differ.
  • The words differ; the meaning does not matter.
  • Both reports come from the same Companion.

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